Restoring Confidence in Your Equipment

Fire and soot damage

Following a fire one distinguishes between primary and secondary damage. Primary damage is that which results directly from the incident such as the fire damage to buildings or contents.

Before the reconditioning of a
control unit on a IR4 Train

After the reconditioning of a
control unit on a IR4 Train

Secondary damage is simply explained as the contamination by smoke and corrosive substances, which are formed by combustion of materials, typically PVC. Normally secondary damage constitutes more than 75% of all damage.

From experience we know that the formation of hydrochloric acid as a result of combustion of PVC is the main cause of corrosion after fire.

AREPA's services
When establishing the requirements for a particular situation, the Project Manager will take account of the results of the chloride analysis, and ensure that the effects of the contaminants are eliminated or reduced by reducing the relative humidity levels in the area, by the application of corrosion inhibiting oils or by the immediate removal of contamination from sensitive surfaces. In practice, a combination of these methods will be used.

Chloride test kit

Typically more than 1000 poisonous and corrosive gases are formed as a result of fire. Therefore there are different types of corrosion that can result from a fire.

To investigate the extent of a number of such contaminations AREPA has a HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) unit. At our laboratory we can, based on surface tests on the equipment, have the chemical components examined on our HPLC unit and the extent of the corrosive components evaluated and thus take the necessary measures.